


Just Like Sunshine

by lwielaura



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Avengers, Fluff, Get Together, Language, M/M, Minor Angst, Pining, Team as Family, english isn't my first language, sneaky bastards everywhere, the avengers just know, tony should just go for it, unreasonable amount of pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-06-06 19:42:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6767284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lwielaura/pseuds/lwielaura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn’t love on first sight. It wasn’t even love on second sight.<br/>But one morning when Steve entered the kitchen, Tony choked on his coffee because he just felt like the sun had gone up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Like Sunshine

**Author's Note:**

> prompt me stuff at my tumblr http://allhailtchalla.tumblr.com/  
> the weather is getting better, so my fluff is also blossoming

It wasn’t love on first sight. It wasn’t even love on second sight.  
But one morning when Steve entered the kitchen, Tony choked on his coffee because he just felt like the sun has gone up.  
It wasn’t even a special morning, nothing unusual happened. He had just emerged from an all-nighter from his workshop into the crowded kitchen, which happened to be the moment Steve had returned from his daily morning run, all sweaty and panting and it was a sight he admired times and times before but now it was like he could actually see for the first time and he felt mildly betrayed from his brain.  
It shouldn’t surprise him so much, looking at it in retrospective, well maybe not on the very beginning, when he was 100 per cent sure that Steve was the biggest disappointment ever because honestly, he had dedicated a lot of his childhood and his first wet dreams to Captain America and there had to be a reason his dad was so all over him, more than over his own son, so meeting him in person was just something he wasn’t prepared for, even less for the things he had thrown at him and he would never admit that he had spent the days after that alone in his workshop, drinking and building stuff or both to make things right again. But then the strangest things happened and that was probably the last thing he was prepared for: they became friends.  
It was a very slow build, there were limits tested and heavy arguments but at the end of the day he had discovered that there was Captain America and there was Steve and Captain America maybe was a disappointment but Steve certainly wasn’t.  
Another thing he absolutely didn’t expect was the fact that on some point on his life he would live with a bunch of superheroes under a rooftop, not only for business but because they actually liked him and they were friends and wanted to be together so thinking about that he had to admit, yes, his life was a mess, but he wouldn’t want it any other way.  
So yes, great, maybe he was a bit overwhelmed to have friends, like real friends and also a bunch of them, for the first time in his life and he was annoyed with himself how much he liked it, but that was a really terrible excuse for his heart to decide to develop a grown up serious crush on one of them.  
“You all right, Stark?” Clint grinned and he jumped, totally lost in his own thoughts and he looked around a bit awkwardly as he realized that he still stared at the door Steve had vanished into, coffee dripping slowly onto his expensive leather shoes.  
“Dammit.” He cursed, shaking his head to get his mind free and followed Steve’s track to head into his room, in urgent need of a shower and maybe an overdose of sleeping pills. 

So it was a thing that he solved problems down in his workshop.  
The coffee machine didn’t work? He would fix it down here.  
His armor once again was destroyed by a lunatic that tried to vaporize the whole east coast? Down here was the place to deal with it.  
One of his teammates needed some very weird and borderline impossible improvements on their equipment? It would be done down here.  
So no one should be surprised to find him down here now, his head full of blue eyes and flashes of the glimpses of the body more or less hidden behind the much too tight shirts he sometimes got in the communal shower after a mission and he felt like a teenager, pining quietly over his crush but what else was he supposed to do?  
They maybe all outran him when it came to sports but boy, he was the gold medal winner for running away from his problems and that definitely was something he would consider a huge one.  
There was no way Steve would like him back – god, when did he turn sixteen again – because…. Just because. There were too many reasons for it and he had no desire to count them all since he didn’t need another proof of how much of a fuck up he was, but they were there like a wall between them.  
And also, there was a bunch of other stuff that just made it impossible, ok?  
So fuck that shit, he thought, he would remain here all safe and in the company of his very unsympathetic bots to lick his wounds quietly until he sat that one out long enough.  
But of course he had no such luck. Why would he? He didn’t even have time to initiate a whole lock down as JARVIS announced Steve to be approaching his workshop.  
“Hey Tony.” And he didn’t dare to turn around since he was very realistically afraid to give himself away although his heart probably beat loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood and he begged that Steve wouldn’t notice.  
“Hey.” He croaked and it sounded much too inviting and friendly, dammit, he wanted to be distant, to make him go away but something inside of him craved the presence of the other man and all he wanted to do is to rip that part of him out and throw it away as far as he could.  
“I brought you a sandwich, you’re down here for hours, you must be hungry.”  
Just as he wanted to protest against this ridiculous assumption, his stomach took this off his hands with a loud and agreeing noise and Tony wanted to punch that little smirk from Steve’s face because god, the things it did to him.  
“Thanks.” He muttered instead, inspecting the sandwiches closer and realized it was his favorite and he couldn’t help a little smile.  
He half expected Steve to disappear after that again but of course he had to sit down on the couch in front of him, watching him openly with a bright smile on his face and because Tony knew that every attempt to actually speak would turn out very embarrassing he just stuffed half of the food in his mouth. God, could he at least have the audacity to stop staring?  
“It’s warm outside.” Steve remarked after a while, still smiling and Tony still trying not to die.  
“Yeah, this is what we call summer.” He replied and Steve chuckled instead of rolling his eyes like he did in the very beginning when he went into full sarcasm self-protection mode.  
“What I want to say is: we’re all on the roof.”  
“Ok.” He answered, unsure what to do with that information. If Steve didn’t want to be here downstairs with him, then why was he? “Have fun then.”  
“Come and join us.” It was a simple demand but with the way he was looking up at him with these long lashes and that glance, Tony wasn’t sure if he had much of a choice on saying no. Instead, he tried it with: “I’m busy, Cap.”  
“I see that.” And the blond couldn’t ban his amusement from his voice and looking behind him Tony cursed himself because there was a water bottle and a Starkpad on his table, not even his holograms were turned on so yeah, that was a bad excuse. Worst he had in a long time, honestly.  
“So, I’ll see you upstairs in a few?” Steve grinned, getting up, taking the empty plate and grabbing his shoulder for an unnecessary amount of time before he left Tony breathless behind and for fuck’s sake, could his heart just shut up for once?

“Good to see you, Stark.” Natasha grinned up to him behind her sunglasses, wearing a bikini and occupying one of the beach chairs he didn’t know he owned.  
“Well, what are you up to?” Clint asked from the rim of the pool, hair soaking wet and grinning and Tony suppressed a small shudder – why did he had a pool on the rooftop again? Oh yeah, he was rich and had an own tower and thus he had needed a pool because well…  
He looked down and discovered that he actually still wore the fancy shirt and trousers he didn’t take off since he had returned from a business meeting this morning but merely shrugged it off. He didn’t plan on joining the pool party – certainly not – and he also felt weird to sit down on one of the beach chairs between Steve and Natasha.  
“Wow, when was the last time you actually relaxed?” the assassin remarked and even she looked like sprung from a picture of a holiday catalogue and that probably meant something.  
“I didn’t relax since I was like twelve.” He muttered, didn’t mean to sound that bitter but that was probably the truth but no, he wouldn’t go down that road today or ever when he had the choice.  
“Well, then it’s about damn time.” Clint, who had joined them, announced , shaking himself like a dog and making everyone wet and Tony felt how his breath faltered a bit, how his vision blurred and the prickling sensation of goosebumps where the drops had hit him.  
Half to clear his mind, half because he wanted to, he looked left to see what Steve was doing and the creeping darkness immediately disappeared as he saw him drawing.  
It was fascinating, even before he kinda fell for him, to see this big hands that fought Nazis and Aliens and every evil thing ever and that punched their way through so many battles were actually creating something, something gentle and beautiful and Tony didn’t think he would ever get enough of just watching every line and every shadow silently appearing on the thin paper.  
“I know I messed up here and there, but it’s relaxing, you know?” Steve suddenly said and Tony jumped a bit because he suddenly felt caught.  
“It’s beautiful.” He managed with a small voice and felt Clint’s glace on him and Steve looking up surprised so he cleared his throat and tried again: “I mean. I’ve always liked the skyline of New York.”  
Steve hummed in agreement and Tony, who still felt the sensation of being looked at in his neck turned around just to see his two friends grinning at him just as they knew but that was impossible and also very rude.  
“New York really changed.” Steve continued and there was something sad in his voice he didn’t want to hear.  
“I can’t believe that this city ever wasn’t noisy and crappy.” He muttered, trying to find a comfortable position on that chair while looking at Steve.  
“Oh, it wasn’t always like this.” Steve smiled with a hint of nostalgia hidden beneath.  
“Really?” and he tried to look at him openly and interested, giving back something of the feeling Steve always gave him, to be appreciated and valuable and worth listening to.  
Steve looked at him with a flicker of balancing something in this blue and after a brief moment of hesitation he began to tell and Tony really hang on every word he said because that honest smile on Steve smile was so worth it and the stories he told…  
He told him about his school and how his mother always made him a sandwich with ham although he never liked it and from his best friend Bucky, who always traded his own cheese sandwich with him, how these two always tried to smuggle into the movies because they didn’t have money and always got caught, how he got beaten up on a regular basis because he was fed up with the bullies fighting the smaller children and that was so Steve Tony really couldn’t help a smile, and how Bucky always punched him out and how he got home to his mom who never was angry but proud and how she died and how the army never wanted him, how he met Howard and how Peggy shot at him and how the first thing he did after he became Captain America was run into a window because he suddenly was so fast and strong and then – his smile faltered and he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.  
“I really begin to like that century, though. It’s not like we have any time to waste, right?” Steve smiled, opening his eyes again and Tony was painfully remembered of every mistake he ever made but managed a smile was well.  
“Thank you.”  
“What for?” he asked, a bit suspiciously because he didn’t do shit.  
“For listening. For giving us a home. For making everything bearable.”  
And even if he had known what to say to that, he was pretty sure he had lost every ability to talk ever again, which was a shame because he actually liked his own voice, so he just stared at him frozen, blinded by that big smile, snapping for air like a fish on the dry.  
“CLINTON BARTON, IF YOU-“ Natasha suddenly yelled and he gladly accepted that distraction as Clint had thrown Natasha over his shoulder, carrying her to the pool and dropping her.  
“Oh, wow, he’s dead.” Tony croaked and Steve giggled in agreement.  
“Who’s next?” Clint smiled, obviously unaware of the certain death he was facing and approaching the pair of them in an alarming speed.  
Tony immediately froze, knowing what would happen and suddenly all the air was out of his lungs, the only thing he could do was to throw his hands up in defense and closing his eyes, reminding himself that this was a pool, it was water but not ice cold water in a cage in Afghanistan, he was home, everything was all right, but his body had started to tremble all ready and shit.  
But nothing happened and he heard a loud splash and a yell but he remained where he was and after a brief second he dared to open his eyes again, breathing heavily and unsteady, hands still up as he witnessed Clint, who just emerged from the water and Steve standing on the edge, obviously the one who had just pushed him.  
“Fuck you, Steve.” Clint laughed until Natasha’s arms slung around him, a murderous expression on her face.  
Steve returned like nothing happened, picking up his drawing utensils again but once again staring at Tony who didn’t regained control over himself again.  
“Are you all right?” he asked and the honest concern made Tony shiver more than before.  
He nodded weakly, clearing his throat and tried to normalize his breathing again.  
“Yes, I just –“ and abruptly he got up and escaped the scenery, still feeling Steve’s glance on him and yes, this probably made everything worse. Next time, he swore himself, he would just stick to licking his wounds in silent, that usually worked good enough. 

With that encounter, he thought, he most definitely had socialized enough for a month, but his friends had other plans, as usual, so when Thor on a Midgardian vacation joined them a week later, there seemed to be no way around joining them for dinner, at least JARVIS made very clear that Natasha already had threatened to do no such nice things to him if he refused and he was way past his suicidal phase, so he showered and joined them a few minutes later in the kitchen.  
“ANTHONY” Thor boomed promptly and Tony jumped, not because he was frightened at the loud and sudden greeting but he knew exactly what to expect afterwards and indeed he was dragged into one of the infamous hugs of the north god that made every bone in his body ache.  
“All right, big guy, no need to –“  
“I am so happy to see all my brothers and sister healthy and happy gathered around me.”  
“All right, nice to see you, too, would you – I’m dying here.”  
Thor let go of him and smiled at him brightly before he sat down again and he could see the smirks on his team’s faces.  
“What brought you here to us immortal people?” Clint asked, sliding a cup of coffee towards Tony like it was the most natural thing to do, who accepted it willingly.  
“I got confused with your Midgardian dates and I’m a week early for a date with my Jane.”  
“Wow, showing up a week early for a date is a new high score.” Clint muttered.  
“Yes, but I am glad to spend time with you.”  
“I’m really glad you’re here, but if you’ll stay for dinner, I’m not going to cook. This is definitely too much to ask for.” Bruce, who came home after one of his journeys to the middle east a few day ago, said and they all agreed since they usually ate enough for about twelve families but together with Thor a canteen kitchen would be necessary.  
“Great idea, I love your earth food. But first, Anthony, can you check my contact machine for an error. It behaves rather badly for a few days.” Tony nodded and took the phone the god offered him, pretty sure it just needed to recharge and wrinkled his head as he saw it turned on but with a black screen. It was his first intuition to touch the large screen and yes, it worked so what was – music blasted from the small boxes and he would have shrugged it off but he knew the tune, he knew – and as he looked up with squinted eyes and as he saw his friends losing it, he knew better.  
“Who of you shitheads taught the god of thunder how to fucking rick roll?” he barked but suppressing his own smile just as much. “Clint?”  
“It was Steve.” Clint snapped and washed away his tears.  
“Steve?”  
“I just…” Steve choked, trying to maintain a straight face but failing miserable. “I found it in the Interweb and I thought it was hilarious and…”  
“Interweb? Sassy little shit.” Tony grumbled, before he couldn’t fight his smile anymore.  
So they ordered Chinese and ended up on the couch, chatting and laughing and all the good stuff Tony never imagined to be a part of until they all agreed on a round of Mario Kart and things just escalated.  
They played on teams which was always a good decision and Thor, who was always much too enthusiastic and therefore never exactly good, ended up with Natasha, who was deadly in everything she did, Bruce, who surprised everyone with having a knack for video games with Clint, who always thought he was good but usually ended up last place and Steve, who was just utterly miserable with Tony, who spent years of his teenage time dedicated to video games and was almost unstoppable, so that was kind of fair.  
The thing was, video game nights never went civilized. Just after the first round Bruce needed a short break to calm down, Clint had a red arm from where Natasha had slapped him, Tony had surprised himself with all the insults he came up with that even he never heard himself saying, Steve had somehow managed to get entangled with his controller and Thor had been so upset that he was blue shelled that he jumped to his feet, tripped and demolished a shelf with some weird modern art on it Pepper had put there with no further explanation.  
“You owe me a shelf.” Tony had laughed.  
“Shut up, Stark, ready for round two? I can’t have you winning again.”  
“Not with Cap on my team, no worries.”  
“I always thought you would be better with your hands, since you draw and stuff.” Bruce remarked.  
“I AM good with my hands.” Steve muttered a bit ashamed and oh, the pictures Tony got from that were definitely nothing he wanted to share with the world. 

“What the fuck is that?” Tony asked a few days later as he entered the kitchen and a flat carton was placed in the middle of the table.  
“You told me I owe you a shelf.” Thor roared in his usual unnecessary loud voice and Tony looked suspiciously at the rest of the team that seemed to be just seconds away to die with laughter.  
“Yeah, that was a joke, right? No need to bring a carton into my house. What am I supposed to with it? Put things onto it?”  
“That is a shelf.” Thor insisted.  
“Ok, this is getting ridiculous.”  
“I just learned about that invention called IKEA where they honor my language just great.”  
“IKEA? You got to be kidding me, right?”  
“No, I’m not. Have fun with your new piece of furniture.”  
And his face seemed to mirror how he felt just fine because his team just burst into laughter.  
“Bastards.”  
So he found himself sitting on the floor, something that could be anything at any point of time spread around him because he was a mechanic and a genius and he built his first robot when he was eight so he wouldn’t be defeated by that junk some Swedish idiot tried to sell as furniture, unless he did.  
“You all right there, Stark?” Natasha asked after two hours as Tony let out a frustrated groan and threw a screw into the corner.  
“What is that supposed to be? Is this even a shelf or are you all plotting against me now? And does that wood even contain wood? And what kind of instruction is that? There are no words, just weird scribblings. This is some next level modern art shit. Steve, look at that, this belongs into the MOMA.”  
Steve shot him an amused glance but took the instruction into his hands and let himself fall down on the floor next to him and once again Tony grumbled, pressing his face onto his shoulder to mumble some pretty neat insults until he realized what he was doing and tried to pull back again, but Steve had slung his arm comfortingly around him with no intention to let go off him in the next few moments and Tony tried to remember that, the soft touch and unique scent he was surrounded by right now.  
“I think you did it the wrong way around. Look, this should be a level, not the back.” Steve mumbled after a few moments carefully into his hairs and Tony needed a moment to take in the words because everything was distracting right now.  
“Huh?” he replied dully as his brain still didn’t work.  
“You did it wrong. Look.” And finally, Steve let go of him and his face was burning, wasn’t it, before he looked at the weak construct a bit resigned.  
“You can clearly see the outlines of a desk.” Bruce commented friendly, looking around confused as that statement raised another round of hysterical laughter.  
“Bruce, this is –“  
“Bullshit.” Tony moaned and kicked the supposed-to-be-shelf before he got up, flipping the finger towards Clint and left the scenery behind and despite his anger he felt like walking on air. 

“Why are you up so early?” Bruce asked Tony a morning a few weeks after that when Tony entered the kitchen, still ruffled and not sure what to do with himself because everything in his body screamed for caffeine before it was willing to function.  
“Coffee first.” He croaked, the last word of the sentence swallowed by a deep and necessary yawn.  
Impatiently he waited for his machine to function and the brown liquid he basically lived on to pour, didn’t bother to wait for it to cool down but swallowed it in one long gulp, burning his whole mouth area but he couldn’t care less.  
A bit more awake he repeated that before he was able to move around to face Bruce and Clint, absolutely refusing to look at the perfect shelf in the background Clint had managed to build up.  
“Wow, the walking dead is real.” he simply said as he eyed Tony and he mumbled something that could count as an insult with a bit of fantasy.  
“I don’t remember you having a shift today.” Bruce interrupted, pushing the freshly cut apple towards Tony who gave it a hesitant look. “Eat.” The doctor added and his voice didn’t permit any backtalk.  
“I don’t.” he munched. “I’ve got detention at principle Fury’s.”  
“What did you do this time?” Clint asked instantly grinning.  
“I may or may not hacked into SHIELD tech to change Fury’s ringtone into ‘You Are A Pirate’.”  
The archer snorted and Bruce looked like he didn’t know if he was supposed to be stern or join his teammate.  
“I hope it was worth it.”  
“Oh baby, it was. Need to go, by the way.”  
But in this exact moment Steve entered the kitchen, only wearing loose pajama pants that ended right under his hipbone and Tony, absolutely struck by this sight, just ran against the wall.  
“Fuck.” He hissed, rubbing his thumping head whining.  
“Tony, did you just – “ he heard Steve bewildered voice behind him, swallowed by the rest’s laughter.  
“Shut up.” He managed, didn’t dare to look back and managed to not miss the door this time.  
“He’s fucking pathetic, isn’t he?” he heard Clint chuckle as he approached the entrance door, followed by a “What do you mean?” from Steve and an agreeing hum from Bruce.  
He would need more than one painkiller for this upcoming headache, he thought as he resolved that Clint was the next one who would get another ringtone. 

So it was a blessing that Thor was gone and Steve had a shift at SHIELD so he could finally walk around his house without the constant fear of inappropriate boners or walking into his furniture or whatever it was his lovesick and still refusing to let go of that brain would come up next.  
Yeah, just he and his friends, being together as friends do, so nothing to worry about, he said to himself as he entered the communal area and rolled his eyes. He met Bruce’s glance who mirrored that gesture, refocusing on his book.  
Natasha and Clint were seated head to head, the table between us and in the middle of what appeared to be an arm wrestling tournament.  
“Yeah, we haven’t had an alien invasion for a long time, better try to kill each other.” Tony muttered, sitting next to Bruce.  
“Shut up, Stark, that is about something much more.” Natasha hissed and pushed a bit, making Clint huff a bit.  
“Uhu.” Tony hummed, pulling out his Starkpad to work on some blueprints.  
“Hah!” Natasha finally shouted, banging Clint’s arm on the table, smiling deadly at her smirking friends.  
“That’s it, movie night will star ‘13 going on 30’ today.”  
“No fucking way.” Tony interrupted, putting his Starkpad aside and looking between them.  
“We’re not watching this again. That guy doesn’t look like Bruce and I can’t have that 90s fashion trend burning my eyes again.”  
“Well, go for it.” Natasha smirked dangerously, bringing her arm in position and Clint looked begging at Tony, a glance that just shouted ‘free me from that hell’ and he was right, no romantic comedy, not again.  
“If I win, we’ll go for Tropic Thunder.” He announced and took Clint’s space and Bruce sighed, put his book away and watched the two of them with mild interest.  
“Sure.” The assassin smirked.  
Tony smiled, looked at his watch before he pressed some button and – “No armor, Stark.”  
“What, that wasn’t in the rules.” He said as parts of his armor emerged to surround his right hand and arm. “Afraid to lose?”  
Natasha just continued with her smile and offered her hand. It was a close call, closer than it should be with his armor and Tony’s respect for the combat skills of the assassin grew but in the end, he won.  
“Tropic Thunder!” Clint howled and high fived Tony grinningly.  
“Isn’t that that weird war movie with the crooked humor?” Steve’s voice suddenly appeared and they all looked at the door he just entered.  
“You’re back early.” Bruce smiled up to him.  
“Yeah, not much to do. Is this about movie night?”  
“If you want to watch another movie, you need to fight Tony, you philistine.” Clint simply said.  
“Oh, this could be interesting.” Bruce promptly said and everyone looked up in surprise. He shrugged. “What, it’s for science.”  
“Ok, what do we –“  
“Arm wrestling.”  
“Uh, I don’t think -”  
“Tony is a cheat, don’t worry.” Natasha snarled.  
“Oh, all right then. If I win I can chose the movie?”  
“Sure, Capsicle, whatever weird arthouse film your heart desires.” Tony smirked.  
“All right then.”  
And Steve sat down in front of him, getting ready and looked him in the eye.  
“That’s actually cheating with your armor, Stark.” He grinned and Tony’s heart skipped a beat. His machine was probably the only thing that made that fight borderline fair, considering that Steve was a super soldier and also in possession of his poor heart and even if that didn’t mean anything at all, it meant a great deal to Tony.  
“Ok, three, two, one.” Natasha counted down and gave them a signal. After a few seconds it was clear, this fight was even. Too even. No matter how hard Tony tried, he couldn’t move Steve’s arm an inch and vice-versa.  
“Boring.” Clint yelled and yawned demonstrative.  
“Giving up, Cap?” Tony yelped as he managed to drag Steve a bit closer to the table.  
“Not even thinking about it.” Steve smiled and his eyes flickered in a unsettling way and Tony knew that glance, that was the star spangled man coming up with a plan glance and he wanted to say something, anything as he leaned forward and planted a kiss right onto his mouth and Tony was so irritated he let go and felt his hand hitting the heavy wood of the table.  
“So, it’s on. I’ll chose the movie.” Steve smiled brightly while Tony stared at him, not able to process what just had happened.  
“Great job, Stark.” Clint muttered, clapping his back and heading for the kitchen.  
“Great, I’ll grab some food. Movie night in half an hour?” Natasha asked like nothing happened and followed Clint’s track.  
“Sure, I could use a bite as well.” Steve hummed, having the actual audacity to wink at the star struck Tony before they left him behind, only Bruce sat still with him, smiling knowingly into his book.  
“Shut up.”  
“I didn’t say anything.” The doctor replied innocently.  
“Yeah, don’t even think about it.”  
“There’s nothing left to say anyway.”  
Tony threw a pillow at him.  
So movie night didn’t really work out the way it was supposed to be since Tony agreed with himself that it would be unreasonable to endure Steve’s weird movie taste without alcohol, to which Clint, who had forgotten to be pissed that he had changed his ringtone to “I’m a bird motherfucker”. agreed as well and as soon as Natasha spotted the expensive vodka, she joined them and Bruce, who drank a glass of wine in the evenings anyway, drank a few more this time and even Steve, who never really understood all that alcohol stuff, began to like that questionable shimmery liquor Thor occasionally brought from his Asgardian trips, joined their small party so after half the movie was over, everyone was already tipsy.  
“This movie is literally the worst thing my eyes ever had to witness, and I once walked into Clint taking a shower.” Natasha muttered at some point, taking another shot of vodka like it was nothing.  
“Excuse me? I have the body of a young god.” Clint sulked.  
“Well, Buddha also founded a religion…” Bruce mumbled and they all giggled.  
“I heard good stuff about this film.” Steve shrugged apologetic but it didn’t sound like he would disagree.  
“Drinking game!” Clint demanded and everyone was suddenly excited.  
“Anyone having an idea?” Natasha asked.  
“Drink whenever you feel depressed. I do it all the time.” Tony said and everyone chuckled. Everyone except for Steve.  
“This is called alcoholism.” Bruce grinned.  
“Then so be it.” Tony nodded and once again they laughed but Steve, fucking Steve just stared at him sad and disapprovingly and that was so not the point of that utterance.  
“Never have I ever.” Natasha suggested and they were all over it.  
“What’s that?” Bruce and Steve asked.  
Clint explained the rules while Natasha browsed the internet for some questions.  
The beginning was quite harmless and Tony, even in his dizzy mind, was quite thankful for that because after all he didn’t want to scare Steve off but on the other hand, he thought, he didn’t stand a chance anyway so he shrugged and took a shot when someone read out: “Never have I ever been driving around nakedly.”  
“Never have I ever slept with someone at least ten years older than me.” Natasha announced and Tony sighed before he filled his glass and took a shot.  
“What?” Clint grinned.  
“It was a bet, ok?” Tony smiled halfheartedly.  
“What kind of bet?”  
“Well, we had a hot teacher once… Blame Rhodey, ok?”  
“No fucking way. I’m going to text him right now. What was her name?”  
Tony cleared his throat awkwardly. It was not exactly a secret and he had never felt nervous about telling who he was, except for when he had told Rhodey, but Rhodey was his only friend for a long time, so this was different, just like it was different here and now.  
“Mister Tenner.” He finally said and tried to not look at Steve but as he looked up, no one had the audacity to even look surprised, they all grinned and continued like nothing happened so he finally dared to look at Steve who smirked like he had just heard the best joke ever and Tony blinked a bit surprised but it was okay, he guessed, and relieved he continued the game.  
“Never have I ever died my hair.” Natasha read and she and Tony chugged their drink, looking at each other with raised eyebrows.  
“Mission related.” Natasha smiled, looking at him expectantly.  
“I was a rebellious teen.” Tony smirked.  
“What did you do?” Bruce asked.  
“I went blond once.”  
“I need to see pictures.” Clint demanded.  
“Screw you, it looked terrible.”  
“Oh, I can imagine that.” Natasha agreed and Tony squinted at her.  
“Never have I ever accidently put something on fire.”  
And to everyone’s surprise Steve took his first drink this round.  
“What?” he asked after he shuddered the bad taste of the tequila away. “I was grounded for a whole month after that. I accidently set a classroom on fire.”  
“You did – what?”  
“In elementary school.” He continued, smiling shyly and Tony stared at him with eyes wide of wonder and a smirk on his face because poster boy of the nation his ass, Steve was so different than everyone thought and he loved that so much.  
“Why would they put flammable material in an elementary school?” Bruce asked concerned.  
“Well, everything is flammable if you try hard enough.” That raised a long laugh and Tony giggled fair enough, patting his shoulder in tears and Steve leaned into that touch, suddenly close like it was the natural thing to do and Tony looked at him surprised but he didn’t react, neither did one of the others and yes, there was just so and so much he could take so he jumped onto his feet and everyone looked up in surprise, Steve actually almost falling over at the sudden loss of Tony, as he choked something about being busy and fled physically out of the room. 

Many people tried to enter his workshop in the next couple of days but he had told JARVIS to send each and every one away, not willing to talk to anyone. He would stick to his original plan, licking his wounds quietly but it just got more complicated because months ago it was just a crush but now he was so over the soldier it hurt and it had happened what he wanted to avoid at any cost because he was no man to love or to be loved, he had scared off everyone who got too close to him, hurting either himself or the other person and he wasn’t sure what was worse, also he was sure that he couldn’t stand neither with Steve so hiding was a good idea, yeah, it would be over sometime and until then he had alcohol and a bunch of work to distract himself.  
“Sir, Captain Rogers is approaching your workshop.” JARVIS announced and Tony blinked sheepishly, before he yawned: “You know what to do.”  
“Sir, you’ve bee awake for over 70 hours now, I’m authorized to ignore commands due to sleep deprivation.”  
“Don’t you dare, you –“  
“Tony.”  
Tony sighed, rubbing his hand over his face and stared at his holograms again, not even bother to answer.  
“Tony, would you listen to me?” Steve asked again, calm but undoubtfully worried.  
Tony continued ignoring him; he just pressed some buttons and suppressed his urge to at least glimpse at the man determinedly.  
“You need to sleep and eat, Tony.” The captain tried once again but Tony offered nothing, hoping he would go away if he just maintained this attitude.  
But suddenly two hands grabbed him and before he could do anything against it he found himself swung over the shoulder of Steve who carried him away from his stuff and he protested loudly, even tried to kick himself free but the blond just tightened his grip and went on like nothing happened.  
“Put. Me. Down. I’m a grown ass man, Rogers.”  
“Well, then behave like one.” Steve spilled impatiently and for a second Tony froze, but as they reached the elevator he tried to free himself again.  
“Would you at least put me down? I’m not twelve anymore.” He gasped after he realized that all his struggle was futile anyway.  
Before Steve could answer the elevator rumpled and they stopped abruptly, making Steve jump and Tony used this situation to let himself down to the floor again, shooting an angry glance towards Steve, before he addressed JARVIS: “J, what’s going on?”  
“It appears that an arrow of Mister Barton found its way into the elevator well, Sir. While Miss Romanoff continues shouting at him, Mister Banner is trying to find a solution.”  
“Well tell them we’re stuck and if they don’t free us within a few, Clint will be homeless.”  
“Very well, Sir.”  
“Are you all right?” Steve asked unexpectedly and Tony made a vague gesture and a noise that could pass as a yes.  
“Your hand…” he pointed out and he looked down to see his right hand shaking, like it always did when that thing the psychiatrists at SHIELD considered to be PTSD struck and he put it into his pocket, clenching it to a fist to keep it under control but Steve continued to look at him.  
“I just don’t like small and closed rooms, all right?” he muttered after a while when he realized that Steve wouldn’t stop staring.  
The other man just bit his lip, seemed to consider for a moment before he let himself down on the floor, looking up expectantly.  
“Well, if we’re stuck in here we can just as well make the best out of it.”  
Tony sighed before sitting down next to him, the elevator so small that their legs touched and small electric shivers hit him, which was not distracting at all, thank you very much.  
“What have you been up to?” Steve asked and he looked a bit nervous, why did he look nervous?  
“Not much. Just the usual stuff in my workshop.” He said, avoiding the blue eyes as best as he could.  
“Is there something wrong?”  
“No, why would it?” he replied probably a bit too quick.  
“I was just wondering… You just seem to avoid me… or the others.” He added quickly and as Tony finally found the strength to look up, Steve was staring at the ground like he was the one hurting but that is exactly what he didn’t want, what he tried to avoid so much. Great, even that he fucked up.  
“Why would I avoid you… guys?”  
“I don’t know, you tell me.” He replied and looked up so suddenly and with actual hurt in his eyes it left Tony speechless for a second.  
“I…” he looked around, slowly getting into full panic mode as he couldn’t spot an escape.  
“Tony, you can talk to me, if there’s anything going on and you need someone to…”  
And Tony totally blamed the fact that he hadn’t slept for days and had too much coffee and no food and his damn heart that still refused to work properly and in normal speed for the outburst he suddenly felt creeping up and he really tried to suppress it but as Steve’s hand found his way to his own, he pulled away and with a new found strength he almost yelled:  
“You. You happened, ok? It was all fine but somehow you came here and started to live here with a bunch of idiots that I really like and act like the god damn family I always wanted and it was fine until you continued being all perfect and just… look at you, you can’t just run into people’s lives and ruin it, don’t you have better things to do? Really, stop being such a good friend, I can’t take that anymore, I don’t…”  
Tony didn’t realize how he got up on his feet, didn’t realize how heavy he was breathing or that he had started to tear his hair, didn’t realize how Steve had followed him, had grabbed his shoulders tightly and grinned at him like an idiot and Tony felt the anger rushing through him.  
“What are you trying to say, Tony?” Steve smiled so brightly and could he not? He was so raw and open like he had never been before and this was how he was repaid? By being made fun of? But he couldn’t hold back anymore and he went too far to pull back so what the hell.  
“I’m not trying to say anything, you started that whole fucking conversation, I was all fine downstairs, why couldn’t you just let me down there being alone and all fine. I fucking hate you right now because I am all over you and feel like a teenage girl with her first crush and how am I supposed to deal with it when you are bouncing around like a little puppy with your damn big smiles and great words and shit because fuck, Steve, I never wanted that and now I have to live with it and to live with the knowledge that whatever the fuck I’ll do I’ll never be good enough for you to even consider me, to know that I’m too fucked up to do be worth enough tomhhhhh“  
While he was talking Steve’s smile had dropped from his face more and more and as he reached his self-loathing rant he wasn’t even able to continue because suddenly two lips found their way onto his own and interrupted him midsentence, something he would consider as very rude if it wasn’t Steve and if the feelings that rushed through him wouldn’t paralyze him all of a sudden and with an intensity he simply wasn’t used to.  
He felt the strong hands around him, pressing him against the wall and Tony obliged, slinging his legs around his torso and using his free hands to grab shirt and hair of the taller one until his sudden reflex sank in and he pulled away with wide eyes and his lips parted in surprise and Steve needed a second until he realized what just had happened, looking up at him flustered but still firm and honest.  
“I love you, Tony. I have for a while but I always thought… You are so distant sometimes and sometimes you are my best friend and I didn’t know… I just…”  
Wait. Being caught in a too small elevator with the man he had a crush on since he was twelve while his legs were slung around his waist as he confessed his love for him was definitely a scenario he didn’t consider to be real. I mean, that didn’t actually happen, did it? That was…  
“Tony?” Steve tried carefully, suddenly looking unsure and got ready to pull away but Tony grabbed his shirt almost desperate like a drowning man and Steve gasped, looking almost mesmerized at him.  
He pulled him into another kiss and they pressed onto each other again and Tony couldn’t help but pull him closer, as close as possible because even when this was a dream, he wanted every second of it.  
“I love you.” he muttered so quietly he could hardly hear it but Steve seemed to understand by the way he kissed him.  
“Sir, the elevator is ready to function.” JARVIS announced suddenly and they jumped a bit, looking at each other questioningly.  
“You need to sleep.”  
“You need to shut up.”  
And they kissed again.


End file.
